Thursday, May 7, 2009

Zoo Day

This is a post with a lot of photos. Today, I didn't have school or work so I took my son and my camera and we went to the zoo. We spent a lot of time there, we saw a lot of things, and I think that we all had a good time. Here is a chronological selection of 50 of the photos that I took. I included photos that I really like and I am going to number them so that you can let me know in the comments which one(s) you really like of these. Thanks for reading, and thanks for playing along. Please, take your time and look through these. I think that you will enjoy them. Really, I wish that you could have been there with us, and I promise that I was thinking of you most of the time.me

1- We always go past the big cats first.

2- For some reason, there is a Red Panda in the area with the big cats. Technically, it is in its own area, but it is still there with the cats. Maybe a better name for this would be to call it a Red Raccoon.34- Snow Leopard. One of my favorite animals at the zoo.5- As you may or may not know, I really like flowers. I love photographing them, I like having them around, I would like to live in the tropics to be around flowers all the time. Some flowers have a lot of personality - Venus Fly Traps, for example, or Tulips. Maybe all flowers have personality; I don't know. But I do know that Magnolias are one of those flowers that has a lot of personality. Everybody knows that they pop like over sized popcorn in the summer, but this is what they look like in the spring - sort of phallic (which may be why they burst later on). Anyway, this was the first real flower that I came across. I have a lot more flower photos below.6- I like the nest.

7- The light in this photo is amazing. I took a few photos of this little guy and this one is just so much better than all the others. I don't know if it was the camera, my angle, or the fact that this little goat moved a little but whatever the reason, I really like the texture that shows up on the fur and the crispness on the horns.

8- It was some sort of K-2 school's day at the zoo, so Gabe had a lot of kids to play with.

9- Gabe, holding up traffic.

10- While he was playing, I was looking at the weeds nearby.

11

12

13- As you may be able to tell from the pictures, today's weather is somewhat improved over what it has been recently.

14- Not a zoo animal specifically, this little guy (it is actually about 5 or 6 inches in length) ran past us and up a wall. Gabe yelled to me to "Catch it, Daddy!" so I caught it on camera.

15- This way he could reach.

16- If I was a flower, I think that I would like to belong to the lily family - not to sound lily livered or anything, but sea grass and many other aquatic flowering plants are closely related to lilies. I think that onions and garlic are also related to the lily, but I could be wrong about that. Either way, I really like the flowers that onions and garlic produce.

17

18

19

20

21

22

23- In person, it looked even higher than this. It is my fault that I didn't include more of the structure that this post towers over. I am not afraid of heights, but this would make me sick. It was REALLY high. He just climbed up there, hand over hand, and took a seat.

24- "Why can't we all just get along."

25

26- Do you see the nest?

27- One of Gabe's favorite animals. We came back to this guy more than once.

28

29- (I think that this is one of MY favorites of this group).

30- I love this bark.

31- :)

32

33- I love the little flowers that weeds make.

34- Flowers at this stage almost makes me feel like a peeping tom. It is like they are still getting dressed or something.

35- It was raining petals.

36- I think it is magic that makes this kind of rain. Really.

37- What a great smile!

38

39- Him looking at me looking at him.

40- I love the not-zoo animals at the zoo.

41- A couple more magnolias.

42- These are actually outside of the zoo. There is a huge park adjacent to the zoo.

43- Gabe went one way around the pond, I went the other way.

44- Did you notice the turtles in this photo? I did not when I took the photo. They are in the one above this as well. I had no idea.

You know that I love #17, too, as otters are my faves (I am so excited that they finally have a few at the zoo here... though they are much more fun to see in the wild). I liked #31, #45, and #46 a lot, too. You did take some really nice photos, hon. WAY TO GO! (Now, wasn't that camera a good purchase?)I love you and I will miss you while you are away.

I like #30 because of the angle...it reminds me of what a child must see when he looks up at his parent...all that tallness. The reflection on #47 is beautiful. #33 I"m going to be critical here and say that this is not your best photo- a little blurry but I too love weeds! And I've saved the best for last...drum roll...#20 he looks so cool and comfy and I love his home.

Thanks, B. You know that I put #17 in here just for you. Anon, thank you, too. The turtle in #20 was super-chill. The funny thing is that I don't think that most of the people there when I was there even noticed it.

There were lots that I liked, but these were the ones I liked the most...15 - too cute! 16 - I took an almost identical shot today at Mud Island. I love lily pads. 20 - read the previous sentence :). 27 - I think this is my very favorite. The colors work so well together, and I am a sucker for shallow depth of field (which, btw, is what made 33 "Blurry"...the flowers ARE in focus, background is not). 37 - it was THIS turtle that I didn't notice the first time around. I love that they're just hangin' out together :)